I was just finishing up a project for one of my bosses and she was the last of them to leave for the day, she stopped by and broke the news to me:
The sale we had started last week in Joliet didn't go as well as we had anticipated and it was closing up early - 2 months early - which means that we currently have ZERO no business and no work for me to do there til after the 1st of the year or until we sign some new clients and start some new sales. Because of this, unfortunately, they have to cut my hours/days back (again) and I'm now only working 1 day a week. I could tell my boss felt really bad about it too - she looked like she was struggling not to tear up as she said she understands we're probably saving every bit we can with Jay on the way and the holidays coming up... and she kept saying she hated having to do this too. I totally understand though and while it was a bit of a surprise, I wasn't really *that* shocked as business has been slow for a long time (they cut me back from 4 days a week to 2 about a year and a half ago and things still never really picked up).I don't think I've really mentioned what I do for work on this blog - I do graphic design work for a furniture sales promotion agency, which means that we try to help furniture stores have successful sales. Say the owner is retiring or the store is closing or having a grand re-opening or liquidation sale - we try to get in touch with them and using the successful sales methods and techniques my bosses have come up with, we bring in our people to run the sale and help the store get the most profit from the sale. I do all the print advertising work for the different stores, such as the ads that run in the newspaper or the mailers and fliers that get sent out in the mail and any other print media that we might use to draw in customers. I also do all the print advertising and promotional materials for the company itself that appear in several different national furniture magazines to try and draw potential clients to come to us, although I also send out a mailing of letters with a flier and our brochure to potential stores that might need our help in which we get their info from a credit agency.
It's not a bad job, but there just hasn't been a lot of work since I started there and like I said, it's never really picked up but instead it seems to be declining.
Hubby took the news how I expected he would - he was a bit upset and frustrated, not me but at the situation, which I get, I just hate seeing him like that.
Financially we'll be okay as hubby works a lot and this isn't as big a paycut as it was the last time I got my hours cut - hubby just likes to have that extra cushion so when things like the car needing repaired and such come up we have that extra money to cover it. Or with the holidays and buying gifts... and the upcoming hospital bills. We can manage, it'll just be a little tight and we'll need to stick closer to our budget. What we REALLY need is for UPS to start promoting people to full-time again, as once hubby gets that, we won't have to worry about things as it's such a huge pay increase from part-time to full-time.
While I doubt any place would want to hire a clearly pregnant lady for long-term (I'm at the point where it's not really possible to hide my bump), the holiday season is just around the corner and I guess there are some places still hiring their seasonal staff.
I went online and searched the listings for Monster.com/HotJobs and Careerbuilder but only found 3 that looked legit. I also went to several store's sites and applied as they had seasonal positions listed. A friend of mine that's worked on and off at The Limited out at the mall suggested I apply there as she said they just started taking apps for seasonal spots and my mom suggested I apply at The Children's Place too so I went out and did that yesturday.
It seemed to go well - I hate group interviews as the last one I had was just me and 1 other girl and it was all about one-upping the other person to make yourself look better, however this one was alright. There was 5 of us and I got the impression I was one of the older girls in the group. The manager asked us some questions and spent most of the time just go over all the details about the store and company, etc. I spoke up a few times, asking good questions, etc so I think that helped make me stand out a little bit. I didn't have to mention I'm preggo (which legally, I don't have to) but I'm pretty sure the manager could tell - she mentioned they have hired pregnant women in the past with no problems and while they have had to pick up the slack on some, others have turned out to be some of their best workers. They said they won't be able to let us know until probably Wednesday at the earliest as the 3rd manager is gone til Tuesday and they need to go over everything, confer, and decide how many they need to hire.
She said they usually keep their seasonal employees on through the 2nd week of January and then they reevaluate how many they can keep and how many they want to keep on. I'm sure I won't last past that since they'll know I'm pregnant and be having Jay soon, but still, a good 2 months of work to make some extra cash isn't bad! Hopefully it goes well - any little bit will help, even if it is just seasonal!
My only fear is that you get a 25% off employee discount and when the 50% off sale comes around, that means we get it for 75% off... she mentioned some of the employees that are moms tend to spend a good bit of their paycheck there because of the discount, which I fear could be bad for me! As it is, they had us wander around the store a bit while we waited for everyone to get there and I spied some really cute long sleeved polos!
Also, when I got home, I checked my email and there was a request from Macy's for me to go on their site and schedule an interview. I did, but I'm a little skeptical as I applied and group interviewed for them last year and didn't get the job (that was the group interview where it was me and 1 other girl and all she did was 1-up me the whole time). We'll see how that goes though. My friend at The Limited said she works next on Sunday too so she mentioned she'd put in a word for me too.
Hopefully I'll get something, right?
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